


The Mysterious Disappearance of Roy Harper

by Lunammoon



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime, Gen, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I did more research for this than I have for My RP project which my graduation depends on., I suddenly got the idea to write this., I'm really out here writing fanfiction of fanfiction huh, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Is that the tag to use, Look I know this appeals to a demographic of 20 people but still., POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22229947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunammoon/pseuds/Lunammoon
Summary: This week on Buzzfeed unsolved we investigate the mysterious disappearance of Roy Harper.(If you've read Shadow of an Arrow by bankgeek18. Then this story takes place in that universe. Book three of the Shadows and Arrows series just started (book one is Shadow of an Arrow). If you haven't read it then you should? It's well written, the first two completed books are over 200k, the third book is being written right now and it regularly updates. You ought to check them out. I guess you could read this story without reading theirs, you'll probably be able to piece together what is going on, but regardless either before or after you read this story, you should read Bandgeek18's stuff.)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	The Mysterious Disappearance of Roy Harper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bandgeek18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandgeek18/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Shadow of an Arrow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11691042) by [Bandgeek18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandgeek18/pseuds/Bandgeek18). 
  * Inspired by [To Wear a Shadow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16656118) by [Bandgeek18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandgeek18/pseuds/Bandgeek18). 
  * Inspired by [Beyond the Shadow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22137787) by [Bandgeek18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandgeek18/pseuds/Bandgeek18). 



> Right before bed I suddenly got this idea and HAD to write it down. The next morning, I wrote it. The thing people say about comic sans making it easier to write fast is true and that makes me furious.

This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we investigate the Mysterious Disappearance of Roy Harper. The 14-year-old ward of Star City billionaire, Oliver Queen.

_“I heard about this wasn’t he declared dead a while back?”_

_“Well, he was missing for 7 years.”_

Roy William Harper Jr. was born on July 11th, 1992 at the Navajo reservation as the son of Roy William Harper Sr, who worked for the Kaibab Forestry Service. 

“ _Who was his mom?’_

_“Uh, I’m actually not sure. I couldn’t find any mention of her anywhere. She could be dead, she could’ve left, I have no idea.”_

In 1995, tragedy struck as a forest fire killed Roy Harper Sr. leaving Roy Harper an orphan.

_“What uh happened there?”_

  
_“Well, apparently, Roy’s dad got him out of the fire”_

_“Okay”_

_“But there were other people still in the forest, so he ran back inside to try and grab them, and he inhaled_  
_too much smoke”_

_“Is this when Roy Harper Jr. disappeared”_

_“No, that wouldn’t be for another 12 years.”_

_“Oh right because the fire happened._  
_In 1995 and he disappeared in 2007”_

Roy was then taken in by a man named “Brave Bow”, one of the men that his father had saved from the fire.

As he grew up, Roy was known in his hometown for being an amazing archer, in fact, by the age of 12, he was competing with adults instead of children due to the fact that his archery skills far above child levels.

Oliver Queen had been in the area due to business and was impressed by Roy’s archery skills and he soon began to visit him and his foster father. Which was good timing as a few weeks later, Brave Bow would die from complications related to Liver Cancer.

_“What”_

_“Oh yeah, Brave Bow had been diagnosed with_  
_liver cancer in I think 2004 or so?”_

_“This Roy kid is really unlucky.”_

_“What do you mean.”_

_“Your dad dies in a forest fire,_  
_and then your new dad dies_  
_of liver cancer.”_

_“And then you disappear”_

_“Yeah and then you disappear, that’s_  
_gotta be rough.”_

_"The kid can't catch a break."_

Roy was taken in by Oliver Queen after that. After being taken in by Queen, Roy was reportedly found to suffer from severe social anxiety and agoraphobia due to being taken away from the place where he grew up. This in addition to having a chronic illness caused Oliver Queen to homeschool him and for Roy to not leave the mansion.

_“It seems to me if you had a kid suffering from_ _social anxiety, you’d want to expose them to more_  
_people to help them get over it.”_

  
_“I guess Oliver Queen disagrees with you.”_

_“I guess so”_

In mid-2007, Oliver Queen reported that he had woken up to an alarm triggered by something hitting the fence surrounding his home. After searching the house, he found that his ward had been kidnapped. Despite investigation from the Star City Police, with no leads, witnesses, or evidence, Roy was never found, and on July 11th, 2013 on what would’ve been his 21st birthday, the case was closed and Roy Harper was declared legally dead.

And now, onto the theories.

The first two theories are the ones posed by Oliver Queen himself.

The first of these theories was that Roy had run away. This explains why he waited three days before reporting him missing. In an interview with Clark Kent and Lois Lane of the Daily Planet, Queen said quote: “Roy has always been a troubled kid. I thought that maybe he’d just run away.” According to Oliver, Roy had attempted to run away 2 years prior.

_“Why would he want to run away?”_

_“What do you mean by that.”_

_“Well he’s living with a billionaire who’ll buy him_ _whatever, he’s 12, like  
_ _I just don’t get why he’d_ _want to leave that, you know.”_

_“That does seem a little weird, but_  
_I mean, another theory goes a bit_  
_more into that.”_

The second theory was that he had been kidnapped. Oliver Queen reported Roy’s disappearance 3 days after the event fearing that he’d been kidnapped as he felt he would have returned back home by now if he could. Roy had been previously kidnapped two years prior but had been brought back home by the Star City vigilante Green Arrow.

_“Stop, stop, stop what?”_

_“Ok so a few months after being brought_  
_to Star City, Roy was kidnapped by_  
_a group of people I forget. Anyway, Green_  
_Arrow rescued him after Queen apparently_  
_contacted him and asked him to look for_  
_his ward.”_

_“What did he just call him up on the phone?_  
_‘Hello!, yes Green Arrow, please locate my_  
_missing ward. I have only had him for 3 months_  
_and I’ve already lost track of him”_

_*wheeze*_

_“Sure hope this doesn’t happen again.”_

At one point, Oliver Queen was under the belief that the person responsible for the kidnapping was Bruce Wayne.

_“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”_

_“I know.”_

_“We’re talking about the same Bruce Wayne_  
_Right? Why’d he think that HE of all people_  
_kidnapped his ward?”_

_“I’ll get to that.”_

Several weeks before Roy’s disappearance, Bruce Wayne and his ward, Dick Grayson went to Star City to meet with Oliver Queen over a deal between Queen and Wayne Industries.  
Investigators searched Bruce Wayne’s home, however, they didn’t find a trace of the boy. 

There are several problems with this kidnapping theory even ignoring the absurd idea that Bruce Wayne would or could kidnap someone. Besides the fact that a ransom letter was never sent, Roy’s bedroom was on the third floor and he was kidnapped from his room. In order for him to have been kidnapped, the kidnappers would have had to sneak onto Queen’s property, climb to the 3rd floor, take Roy, climb back down the three floors while carrying a Roy, only trip the alarm by the gate, and then successfully escape into the forest without leaving much of a trail.

_“It’d be pretty difficult.”_

_“Especially since, unless they knocked him_  
_out, he’d struggle.”_

_“Yeah and even if they did, he’d be a dead_  
_weight and that’d be hard to maneuver.”_

The Third theory is that Roy Harper was murdered by Queen. Many members of the SCPD believe that this is what happened, however, they are unable to confirm it. The theory is that Roy had been abused by Oliver and unintentional or not, Roy had been murdered by Queen who then reported it as a kidnapping 3 days later to cover his tracks. This theory accounts for a few contradictions with Oliver’s theories. For example, while Oliver claimed that Roy had attempted to run away in the past, there is no report of this happening.

_“That doesn't sound great”_

_“No, it really doesn’t.”_

If you’ll remember, part of the reason that Roy was homeschooled and didn’t leave Queen’s mansion was that he suffered from severe agoraphobia along with chronic illness, so why would he attempt to run away unless it was to escape abuse. That being Roy’s motivation to run away might also explain why Oliver failed to report it. And of course, it being murder and not kidnapping would explain the lack of a ransom note. 

In addition, the ground around Queen’s mansion had heavy security, and so it seems unlikely that someone was able to sneak in and out and only trip the alarm on the gate as they left especially considering that as they left, they would’ve been carrying a struggling or unconscious 14-year-old boy.

_“I have a question”_

_“What is it?”_

_“So the SCPD is pretty sure that_  
_Oliver Queen did it right?”_

_“Yes”_

_“So what I want to know is-”_

_“Why didn’t they investigate further?”_

_“Yeah”_

_“Basically, they had no real evidence of abuse all_  
_they really had was detective speculation.”_

_“Huh.”_

_“This next theory is a little bit out there”_

_“Oh boy”_

The Fourth and Final theory is that Roy Harper is alive and is currently the Star City vigilante Red Arrow.

_“What”_

_“Yeah”_

_“*sighs* okay”_

_“What.”_

_“It’s just, we started out so well”_

_“And now we’re doing crack conspiracy_  
_theories?”_

_“And now we’re doing crack conspiracy_  
_theories.”_

This theory states that Roy Harper either ran away or was taken in by the Justice Leauge and eventually became Arsenal. People who believe this theory also think that Roy might’ve been Green Arrow’s former sidekick Speedy. This would offer a motivation for leaving as Green Arrow was notorious for killing criminals with offenses as minor as vandalism so it would make sense for Roy to attempt to run away. In addition, it’s possible that upon realizing that Roy was in contact with Green Arrow, the Justice Leauge attempted to remove him from the situation.  
  
_“Oh so that’s why he wasn’t in the Justice Leauge”_

_“Yeah, killing some dude tagging_  
_the side of a shopping mall doesn’t_  
_really mesh with the whole ‘no killing’_  
_policy.”_

_“I’ll say so. And he did all that with a bow and arrow_  
_right? No guns?”_

_“No guns”_

_“Why doesn’t just use anyone a gun anymore. ”_

_“Apparently Arsenal has been known_ _to fire a gun down the barrel of a_  
_gun making it useless. So I guess it's_ _like bring scissors to a rock fight.”_

_“What! How do you even practice doing that.”_

_"I guess you mess up once and then never again."_

_"I guess."_

Speedy, Arsenal, and Red Arrow are all known for their skills at archery. If you’ll recall, Roy was known where he grew up as being an amazing archer who at the age of 12 was good enough to compete with adults instead of in the child’s competition. Red Arrow, Arsenal, Speedy, and Roy all have short red hair and based on their ages, it would be possible for Roy to be Speedy, become Arsenal after absconding to Gotham, and then return to Star City as Red Arrow.

_“Ok I’ll give them that it’s possible for_ _Speedy, Arsenal, and Red Arrow to all be_  
_the same person, I’ll even buy that the_ _Justice Leauge got him from Green Arrow”_

_“But…”_

_“But, you’ve already linked three people together do you really need_  
_to link any more.”_

  
_“It’s like Pokemon.”_

_“It’s like Pokemon.”_

_“Speedy Evolves into Arsenal”_

_“*wheeze* who then evolves into Red Arrow”_

_“You don’t need 4 forms”_

_“You really don’t.”_

This theory also states that Oliver Queen was, in fact, Green Arrow based on the fact that Roy came to Star City with Oliver only a few months before Speedy made his debut. In addition, when Roy Harper disappeared, so did Speedy. It is also worth noting that Green Arrow showed up in Star City shortly after Queen was rescued from Starfish Island and when Oliver Queen disappeared off the face of the earth in 2010, Green Arrow was never seen again.

_“Oh come on.”_

_“Yeah, it does seem a little far_  
_fetched.”_

_“A little?”_

_“Okay, a lot.”_

_“Like we can’t assume that all billionaires with wards_ _are superheroes  
_ _with sidekicks just because of a little_ _coincidence you know.”_

_“Yeah by that logic you could say, Bruce_ _Wayne was Batman and his many kids_  
_have been incarnations of Robin because_ _Bruce adopts a new kid as often as_  
_Batman gets a new sidekick.”_

_“That would be ridiculous!”_

Throughout late 2007 and early 2009, Green Arrow attacked places such as Central City, home of the Flash, Coast City, home of Green Lantern and Metropolis, home of Superman claiming that the Justice League has stolen his sidekick. If we assume that Green Arrow is, in fact, Oliver Queen, it can be inferred that Roy Harper was Speedy, this behavior might make a bit more sense. Due to the civilian casualties, it makes sense that the Justice Leauge would not want to allow Green Arrow near Speedy again.

Regardless of if he ran away, was kidnapped, was murdered, or became Red Arrow, the true fate of Roy William Harper Jr. will remain, Unsolved. 

_"So which one do you think happened."_

_"As much as Theory number 4 being correct would be cool, Theory 3 seems more likely."_

_"Yeah, at this point, I'm leaning on that one too."_

**Author's Note:**

> Hey in case the timeline seems a little bit wonky, here’s how I got it. The Young Justice timeline says that Roy was born in 1992, however, it also states that he became Speedy in 2007 which would make him 14 or 15 depending on the time of year. So to make things fit, had him be born in 1994, this would make him 12 in 2007 which fits in the story.
> 
> For his birthday, I looked through the story to find that in 2009, his birthday was on a Wednesday and on the 11th of the month. The only months with an 11th on a Wednesday that year were March and November. Due to the chapter taking place before the chapter involving Halloween, March 11th was the only possible date. As long as Oliver took Roy in sometime between late December 2006 and early March 2007 the timeline fits.
> 
> In addition, Beyond the Shadow would have to take place in 2015 assuming that in this Timeline, Roy was born in 1992 because his 21st birthday would be May 11, 2015.
> 
> -EDIT- The most recent chapter of "Beyond the Shadow" says that the story takes place in 2013. My bad. I assumed that the author was having Roy be born 2 years later rather than Oliver Queen picking him up 2 years early. In accordance with this new information, the following updates have been made.  
> -Dates have been adjusted by 2 years  
> -Roy's birthday had been changed from May to July seeing as July and April have 11ths on Wednesdays in 2007, and July makes more sense. Thank you.


End file.
